Lothians Bowls: Bainfield and Midlothain do battle for the top spot

Bainfield gents visit Midlothian in today's indoor bowls premier league and the Edinburgh club's first match away from home is a battle of the top two with both teams able to compete a hat-trick of opening wins.
Stacey McDougall of Midlothian begins her campaign in the Ladies National Singles todayStacey McDougall of Midlothian begins her campaign in the Ladies National Singles today
Stacey McDougall of Midlothian begins her campaign in the Ladies National Singles today

Victories over champions Blantyre then Turriff have given Bainfield an advantage of four shots ahead of a Midlothian team that has won away to Turriff and at home to Abbeyview.

Graeme McIntosh and Robert Sloan make their seasonal debuts in place of Brian Stoddart and Graham Angus.

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Rink 1. Mark McIntosh, John Kidd, Graeme McIntosh, Robert Marshall (skip). Rink 2. Robert Sloan, Tam Ebbs, Craig Paterson, Paul O’Donnell. Rink 3. Mark Mackintosh, Stephen Pringle, Alan Brown, John McDermott (skip). Rink 4. Stephen Pilley, David McNair, Danny Gormley, James Hogg.

Midlothian are without David Peacock and Danny McDougall, so bring in Jamie Macnab and Scott Briggs in a line-up that features Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ronnie Duncan at skip in place of McDougall.

Rink 1. Craig Hodge, Andy Caldwell, Scott Briggs, Graham Archer (skip). Rink 2. Jamie Macnab, Liam Mackay, Kevin McDougall, Billy Peacock (skip). Rink 3. Jack Macnab, AJ Knight, Jim Cullen, Ronnie Duncan (skip). Rink 4. Ian Forbes, John Stevenson, Dougie Russell, Colin Walker (skip).

East Lothian sit in third place a point adrift of the leaders having followed their opening away win over Abbeyview with a nail-biting 79-79 drawn game at home to Blantyre.

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They travel to Turriff without the unavailable Scott Kennedy, Mark Johnston, Mark Yuill and Kevin Cunningham.

Alex Cormack, Steven Morgan, Chris Brock, and teenager Aaron Betts play.

Rink 1. Aaron Betts, Steven Morgan, Ewan Fallen, Alex Marshall (skip). Rink 2. Andy Jeffrey, Calum Darling, Stuart Thomson, Joe Mower (skip). Rink 3. Alex Cormack, David Sked, Dean Riva, Billy Mellors (skip). Rink 4. Lewis Betts, Chris Brock, Jamie Higgins, Derek Oliver (skip).

Blantyre are at home to Abbeyview.

The high expectations for West Lothian to dominate the A Section have been revised following opening home defeats by West of Scotland then Falkirk.

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They need to get back on a winning track and visit Aberdeen who are fiercely competitive at home.

Mark Allison and Jamie Edwards will not play but Calum Logan makes a welcome return from holiday and skips in place of Allison while Nathan McKendrick replaces Edwards.

Rink 1. Brian Cooper, Ian Drysdale, Des Hagart, Neil Speirs (skip). Rink 2. George Sneddon, Dougie Mitchell, Jamie Aitken, Criag Moss (skip). Rink 3. Richard Mark, Connor McKendrick, Gary Orr, James Speirs (skip). Rink 4. Nathan McKendrick, Raymond Logan, Cameron Greer, Calum Logan (skip).

Balbardie host Dundee in Division 1A having faded after an encouraging start in last weekend’s defeat by 14 shots at Coatbridge.

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■ Glasgow IBC hosts the play-down action in the Ladies National Singles and first into today’s action are Stacey McDougall (Midlothian), Janet Fairnie (East Lothian), and Kim Ross of Balbardie.

McDougall faces the formidable Claire Walker of Blantyre at 10.00am and is joined by Fairnie who takes on Mhariri Buchanan (Coatbridge). Ross is against Leanne Furye of Arbroath at the same time.

West Lothian’s Jenifer Richardson faces Anne Granger of Stirling at noon while Bainfield’s Mandy Jenkin takes to the carpet at 2.00pm against Kate Stevenson of Ardrossan.

■ World championship qualifiers Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker did best of the Lothian challenge in last weekend’s gents National 2Bowl Pairs Championship but the Midlothian stars crashed out in their section final at Headwell.

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Wins over Berwickshire (2-0) then East Lothian’s Willie Wood and Graham Robertson (2-0) were followed by a 2-0 exit to Stuart Pagan and Paul Brown of Abbeyview.

In the Ladies, Betty Johnston and Kim Ross of Balbardie reached the section final at Bainfield but lostg to Claire and Sarah Jane Ewing of Headwell.

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